The Tom Woods Show Ep. 2748 We Should Have Listened to Pat Buchanan
Apr 2, 2026
Andrew Day, senior editor at The American Conservative who writes on foreign policy, discusses U.S.-Iran war dynamics and his magazine's non-interventionist roots. He traces the outlet's founding around the Iraq war and contrasts past anti-war backlash with today’s skepticism. Conversations cover influence on decision-making, Israel’s role, economic risks, and dangers of escalating rhetoric.
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Magazine Born To Resist Post-Cold War Militarism
- The American Conservative was founded in 2002 to revive non-interventionist conservative thought ahead of the Iraq War.
- Pat Buchanan co-founded the magazine to oppose neoconservative militarism and advocate bringing focus back to domestic institutions.
Growing Up On Bases Shaped Antiwar Sensibility
- Andrew Day grew up on U.S. military bases worldwide because his father served in the Army 82nd Airborne.
- Attending Department of Defense schools and seeing friends and family deploy shaped his anti-war sensitivity during the Iraq War era.
Counting Bombs Is Not A Strategy
- 'Finish the job' rhetoric masks lack of clear strategic goals and often substitutes munitions counts for real objectives.
- The administration has repeatedly shifted justifications (freedom promotion, nuclear threats, imminent threat) without a coherent end-state.